It’s been more than 20 years since I purchased a new out-of-the-box Breitling watch. In the early 1990s as I was starting my journey as a watch collector Breitling was a brand that I truly loved. I still remember buying my first Breitling, which was a Colt with a white dial on a brown calf strap. Later, I added the stainless steel bracelet to the watch and I nose-dove back then buying more than half a dozen Breitlings including Chronomats, Crosswinds, Navitimers, Aerospace Navitimers, and a Blackbird Chronomat that I will never forget as it was one of the two Chronomats to have a full satin brushed —including the bracelet, rider tabs, case, and bezel— finish at the time.
Posts tagged #Breitling Chronomat B01 42
News: Presenting the New Breitling Chronomat Collection
The Chronomat holds a significant place in Breitling’s history. When the Breitling Chronomat was launched in 1984, it marked a welcome return to mechanical Swiss watches, which had all but disappeared when quartz watches dominated the marketplace in the 1970s. Breitling had used the name Chronomat for some of its 1940s watches, and, in those early days, the word was a portmanteau of “chronograph for mathematics”. The 1984 Chronomat expressed something different: “chronograph” and “automatic”, a name that called attention to the self-winding mechanical movement.
